The Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr. Jide Idris, has said that Nigerians are in more danger if incidents of dengue fever, yellow fever and other outbreaks are not reported for proper diagnosis.

Idris stated this on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Monday.

He lamented that incidents of dengue fever had been mistaken by some Nigerians for malaria due to the similarities in the symptoms and a lack of proper diagnosis.

“But one thing that is important is that if people do not report cases, it is more dangerous for us as a people. The more cases we report, the more attention we give to this,” he said.

“Take, for instance, what happened with dengue fever. Apparently, cases, but they were not diagnosed as dengue; they were diagnosed as malaria or fever.

“Unfortunately, too, malaria, dengue fever, and yellow fever present similarly. That is why, again, do not self-medicate. Try to visit healthcare facilities where this diagnosis can be made,” he added.

The NCDC also advised managers of medical facilities in tertiary institutions to promptly notify the Ministry of Health and the centre as soon as a case is detected.

Idris said, “Unfortunately, again, we need to address our colleagues in the tertiary institutions where they have the facility to make this diagnosis. Once they make a diagnosis like this or they detect it again, they need to report through the state ministries of health, then to the NCDC, and then we can mount an appropriate response.”

“Unfortunately for dengue fever, some of the cases were going on for two or three weeks before we were alerted. People are just having fever, etc, until we moved people and diagnosed dengue.

“So that’s the essence of this alert. Let people know what kind of risk we’re facing. We need to let them know what to do and, more importantly, report any case so that we can mount an appropriate response early enough to reduce the number of deaths,” he added.

The Federal Government had on July 18, 2025 issued an alert warning Nigerians of the outbreak of infectious diseases across the country.

Issuing the warning on Friday via its website, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) confirmed the widespread outbreak of cholera, dengue fever, Mpox, diphtheria, and yellow fever.

The public health agency warned of serious public health risks if urgent action was not taken, arguing that the ongoing outbreaks required immediate national attention.

“The situation demands heightened vigilance and intensified response efforts from all stakeholders,” the NCDC said.